Way Down East (Dir. D.W. Griffith) 1920
Way Down East is a silent romantic drama, with the themes of love, deceit, & society. It was directed, written & produced by D.W. Griffith. Other writers are Joseph R. Grismer & Anthony Paul Kelly. This silent film is based on the book Way Down East by Lottie Blair Parker. This film stars Lillian Gish (Anna Moore), Richard Barthelmess (David Bartlett), Lowell Sherman (Lennox Sanderson) & Burr McIntosh (Squire Bartlett).
The budget of this film is at an estimate of $700,000 & It received $2 million at the box office.
The micro feature that is important in this film is the sound. Throughout the film we hear the non diegetic instrumental. This instrumental helps keep the audience focused on the film. If the film was completely silence without the instrumental, the audience would not watch the film. Throughout the film, there are intertitles giving the audience information.
The key sequence in this film is when Anna is lost in the snow storm & she is floating on ice, David then rescues her & marries her in the final scene. The reason why this is the key sequence is because it creates the new equilibrium & it is also what the audience finally wants. After waiting for a while, David finally gets the girl & it's the fairy tail ending where they live happily ever after.
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